In this issue of By The Numbers, we review a book which has just been released. The text, titled “Sandlot Stats: Learning Statistics with Baseball,” was authored by Dr. Stanley Rothman, a mathematics professor at Quinnipiac University.

Removing the statue of Joe Paterno is the right call. But like every lens that exposed some sickening dysfunction over the last ten months, this one had to be forced upon the warped sensibilities of Penn State.

From the humble beginnings of baseball in 1839, reporters and statisticians have tried to “tell the story of baseball”. What “happens” at a baseball game can be expressed in words, and yet must be explained in numbers.